Be bold and challenge yourself

In Chinese Yijin, "you change when you feel it's the end of it;
you change so you prosper; you prospe so you last."
(易經：「窮則變，變則通，通則久」)


After doing something for more than 10 years,
it's inevitable that people tend to feel jaded.

I myself seem to be a person who can not settle with
the same thing for too long. After teaching English
for about 12 years in Taiwan, even though my students
were ranging from pre-school kids to 82-year-old seniors,
there were different twists and touch of things, I couldn't
help but feel really trapped by the pretty much
fixed schedual.

Finally, I decided to do something for a change.
I quit my stable jobs in a state that the global recession
was till everywhere and obvious. This is rare in most
Asian countries, after all, most people are dying to hang
on to whatever they get hold on to.

After making up my mind for the up-going change,
I still managed to do my job well unitl the last minute.
"You do what you should do and do them right."


I moved all the stuff from my appartment back to my
hometown 2 days before my journey to UK, got to pack
the night before my flight!


Surprisingly, the first day I stepped on the land which
was pretty familiar to me 7 years ago when I was brought
to England on my very first trip abroad, there wasn't
much difference between the Taiwan and Manchester.

In Manchester, a big city with an industrial feel,

the muddy-coloured buildings and squared houses, makes

me have this mirage feeling that I had never left my

homeland. There are some old men nodding off and
drooling over their newspaper, the sirens from the ambulance

can be heard everywhere, jade-walking is normal, a lot

people don't seem to take good care of themselves, etc.

Had I not been in UK for a long time?

Chinese people very often think big about westerners

so they tend to believe those people with blonde hair

and eye-colour other than black are in higher and better

social status and class. Therefore, they don't know how

to distinguish people.

When I look around me, I see kids of mature faces but with

zits or badly applied make-up. I don't wear make-up much

myself, but their make-up can really be a lot nicer if lighter

or a bit more sensative. Some kids or adults with odd dressing

and clothing, seemingly seeking for something.

Yet, more often more people whose life scares me a lot,

whose life doesn't really have a meaning in it, are all around

me.

一直都有種「時空的錯亂」的感覺，

真的不覺得自己有離開台灣。

唯一開始不覺得人在台灣的地方....

都是黃皮膚的而外國人比較少；
現在看到的大部份是白皮膚、黑得發亮的黑人及


中東那裡包著頭或眉毛粗的人種，
就算有東方人，大部分也是來自中國那裡的人。


因為台灣人很容易被外國人的臉騙了，
所以看不太出來、也分不出不同,

   我可是看得很清楚。

但老實說啊….在我看來….不是皮膚不好、妝化得不太順、
就是穿著低粗、太過邋遢。
就算注重外表，外表體面，但臉上總少了點什麼。

走著走著…我開始覺得我算是Model級的。
糟了！真得不是故意比以前更「自信」的！
但這真的是我所看到的。


 「有沒有帥哥喔？」

好像沒有耶！是我變得更挑了嗎？！
其實看到了幾個啦！
昨天遇到了一個長得不錯的法國人，聊了一些話，
他對我很有意思喔！可惜帶了女朋友，也不能怎樣！

I don't mean to feel cocky or anything, but I feel like a super
model when I see more of those people around.

Even some people who wear a suit, something seems to be

missing. Are they aware of themselves?

Or are they being TOO AWARE?

Is it that people gradually take things for granted and feel

numb, so the alienation effect can't be detected easily?